As Nomadism Ends

As pastoral nomads become settled, they face social, spatial, and ecological change in the shift from herding to farming, toward integration into the market economy. This book analyzes the socio-spatial changes that follow the end of nomadism, especially in the unique case of the Bedouin of the Negev. As pastoral nomads become settled, they face social, spatial, and ecological change in the shift from herding to farming, toward integration into the market economy. This book analyzes the socio-spatial changes that follow the end of nomadism, especially in the unique case of the Bedouin of the Negev.The culture of the Negev Bedouin stands in sharp contrast to that of the westernized Israeli Jews. The Bedouin live as an Arab Muslim minority within a Jewish state whose people have until very recently been in political conflict with their Arab neighbors. Such a cultural and political gap generates conflicting forces that can drive change in unpredictable directions. Focusing on the structural consequences of the shift to sedentarization, the author explores the related socio-spatial issues of the encounter with the modern, westernized world within a settlement frontier context: The adaptation of territorial behavior; the adoption of western demographic patterns; changes in the social status of individuals; integration into a system of social services; and the spatial conflict between state governments and pastoral nomads.